ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on micro editing, or making sure the mechanics of writing are correct, by looking at three more areas. Correct style means writing something that matches the way local or wire-service stylebook says is correct. Correct spelling means following those same stylebook preferences, and if a word isn't found there, then matching it to the spelling in the dictionary that's preferred where editors work— generally in journalism, Webster's New World College Dictionary. Tightening means making sure the writing says everything that needs to be said but in no unnecessary words or words that are less conversational. The chapter summarizes some of the most often-used style rules typically followed by journalists. Journalists have a specific and unique way of determining the way a word is spelled. This can result in some words being spelled differently from how one may be accustomed.
